AMCI Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC) 2002

History of MOUNTAINEERING

Mountain climbing, or mountaineering, is the practice of climbing to elevated points for sport, pleasure, or research.

The three principal types of mountaineering are :

trail climbing, or hiking through forest trails to the top of small mountains

rock climbing, the ascent to steeper mountains requiring the use of rope and steel spikes that are driven into the rock

ice climbing, on very high mountains with peaks above the timber line

Dr. Michel_Gabriel Paccard first started the sport of mountain climbing by making the first ascent of Mont Blanc (15,771 ft) in Chamonix, France. The golden age of mountaineering began in the 1850s and ended with the conquest of the last great Alpine peaks, the Matterhorn.